


there's a hole in my heart (and no one left to fill it)

by no_nutcracker



Category: Charmed (TV 1998)
Genre: Post-Canon, Talk about a major character death or: Life without Chris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:09:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28717071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/no_nutcracker/pseuds/no_nutcracker
Summary: Wyatt and Melinda are respectively twelve and seven when they learn they have a brother.Rather, had one.
Relationships: Piper Halliwell/Leo Wyatt
Kudos: 11





	there's a hole in my heart (and no one left to fill it)

Wyatt and Melinda are respectively twelve and seven when they learn they have a brother.

Rather, _had_ one.

They were coming home from a random day at school (a human one, not the Magical one, their mother had been very adamant on that matter even though their father and aunt Paige teached at Magic School) and getting rid of their school bags when they heard their mother scream.

Wyatt and Melinda looked at each other in concern. It wasn't an 'a demon is here' scream but rather a 'my husband is driving me mad' one. They were quite used to it as, even though their parents always tried to keep their arguments from them, the manor was still a very old house and everything could be heard in it if you knew the good places. No, what was concerning was that their parents' disputes had increased in frequency over the last months and that none of them seemed to want to settle the argument.

The siblings didn't even know what was causing their parents' upset. And it was not for a lack of trying. They had sneaked and spied and tried to accidentally stumble on the truth, to no effect. Asking their aunts and uncles had given them nothing. Even their aunt Pheobe, famous for her incapacity of witholding a secret, had kept mum on the matter.

Now...

The children exchanged a conniving smile before rushing as quietly as possible to the kitchen and crawling to the screen door that was 'hidden' in it.

'...ve to stop, Leo!,' they heard their mother say. Her voice was calmer but also shaking.

'I can't,' their father replied. He sounded tired.

Their father never was tired, even that time when he had been left alone with all the children while all the adults in the family had been gone on a demon's hunt or on magical/police duty, and one of them'd had the brilliant idea to summon a genie.

(Wyatt will still swear on his deathbed that he only did so on his cousin Prue's insistent demand. That one could be very persuasive and a right terror when she wanted to.)

Wyatt felt his excitement fade as he exchanged a worried look with his sister.

'You have to try. The children, _our_ _children_ , need you. They're growing up so fast, Leo. You cannot afford to lose time with them just for some fool's errand!,' she continued with 'renewed force. 

'Fool's errand?!,' dad repeated. 

Wyatt gulped and turned to look at Melinda. Her mouth had opened from shock, her eyeballs almost bulging out from their sockets. Their father had never sounded so furious before. So enraged.

Mum was the one who lost her patience while dad was the calm one. He was the anchor to mum's thundering storm. To hear him losing it, it made Wyatt's worry grow in his belly the way few demons' attacks did.

'Leo-,' their mother called, for once the calm one of the pair.

Their father did not let her finish: 'It is our son!', he yelled. 'How can you be so callous?!'

Wyatt's brows frown from fear and guilt. Their parents were arguing because of him? What had he done that was so wrong they'd scream like that?

He felt something on his left hand and turned again to Melinda. Her right hand was covering his and a reassuring smile was on her face. Sweet Melly, always trying to make everyone better (when she wasn't being his annoying little sister). He didn't know what he'd do without her.

'I am not being callous, Leo, it's just-.' She stopped, searching for what Wyatt hoped would not be condemning words. 'It's been so long. How can you still have hope?'

Wyatt's frown deepened (and he started to sweat a little) at that. He didn't understand, what would he have done to cause his parents to lose hope for him? His parents were always praising him; for being a good brother, a good cousin, gaining good grades and excelling at exercising his powers. They were even enthusiastically cheering him for everyones of his baseball's plays. They were always upfront with him whenever he did something wrong. 

Something was not adding up.

'How can you have lost it?,' their father replied, insurged. 'He's your son, Piper, you can't just give up on him!'

'I have not given up, Leo, he's dead!,' she yelled.

What?! 

Now, Wyatt was lost. He was definitely not dead so... who were they talking about? Had- had Melinda and him have another sibling? 

'You think I don't know that?,' dad hissed in rage. 'Chris died in my arms! Faded from fucking existence and you don't see me giving up. I'm still searching for him, I'm still looking everywhere for every trail, every hint of him while you do your best to forget him!'

'It is not true,' murmured their mother.

'Yes, it is!,' dad continued, apparently unable to calm himself, or unwilling to. 'You're always talking about your two children as if we never had three of them, you refuse to talk about him, you never even allow me to talk about him. When was the last time you acknowledged his existence?! When was the last time you even thought about him?'

'Leo-'

'His courage, his drive? Do you even remember what he looked like? The way he'd raise an eyebrow in challenge or how he'd try to hide his smile? How his eyes, my eyes, would brighten when he'd see you? Did you forget how much Chris loved you-', dad's voice was interrupted by a resounding crack which he distantly recognised as a slap.

Mom had slapped dad.

He didn't have the time to reflect on that before they heard a painful sob escape from their mom, followed by the clack of a door and running footsteps echoing less and less.

They heard nothing more from their parents' room.

Melinda took the screened door and replaced it in place before facing him. Her curious eyes seemed to reflect his inner thoughts: they had a brother. 

*

She doesn't forget.

How can he think she forgets? Just because she doesn't talk about him doesn't mean she's forgotten. 

Chris was her son too.

She feels his loss everyone fucking minute of everyday, same as with Prue. And while she has learned to live with it, it doesn't mean she has buried his memory. 

She did the same as with her sister; she grieved him, accepted his death and lived on. And as a consequence, she's finally allowed to see Prue. 

She has done everything there's to do to mourn her son so why won't they let her see him too?

*

They search for him (like their father have done for years. Still is). 

Years later they're still searching but even with their cousins and friends (magical and non magical)'s help, they never find anything.

Chris is still lost to them.


End file.
